Immanuel Kant's work changed the course of modern philosophy; this book examines how. The book compares the philosophical system set out in Kant's Critiques with the work of the major philosophers ...
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Immanuel Kant's work changed the course of modern philosophy; this book examines how. The book compares the philosophical system set out in Kant's Critiques with the work of the major philosophers before and after him (Descartes, Berkeley, Hume, Reid, Jacobi, Reinhold, the early German Romantics, Hegel, Feuerbach, and Marx). A systematic introduction argues that complexities in the interpretation of Kant's system led to a new emphasis on history, subjectivity, and aesthetics. This emphasis defined a distinctive interpretive style of philosophizing that has become especially influential and fruitful once again in our own time. The individual chapters provide case studies in support of the thesis that late 18th-century reactions to Kant initiated an ‘historical turn’, after which historical and systematic considerations became joined in a way that fundamentally distinguishes philosophy from science and art, without falling back into mere historicism. In this way it is shown that philosophy's ‘historical turn’ is both similar to and unlike the turn to history undertaken by most other disciplines in this era. Part One argues that close attention to the historical context of Kant's philosophy is crucial to avoiding frequent misunderstandings that have arisen in comparing Kant with other major modern philosophers. Part Two contends that it was mainly the writing of Kant's first major interpreter that led to special philosophical emphasis on history in other major post-Kantian thinkers. Part Three argues that Hegel's system and its influence on post-Hegelians were determined largely by variations on Reinhold's historical turn. Part Four engages with major contemporary philosophers who have combined a study of particular themes in Kant and German Idealism with an appreciation for phenomena closely associated with the general notion of an historical turn in philosophy.Less

Kant and the Historical Turn : Philosophy as Critical Interpretation

Karl Ameriks

Published in print: 2006-09-14

Immanuel Kant's work changed the course of modern philosophy; this book examines how. The book compares the philosophical system set out in Kant's Critiques with the work of the major philosophers before and after him (Descartes, Berkeley, Hume, Reid, Jacobi, Reinhold, the early German Romantics, Hegel, Feuerbach, and Marx). A systematic introduction argues that complexities in the interpretation of Kant's system led to a new emphasis on history, subjectivity, and aesthetics. This emphasis defined a distinctive interpretive style of philosophizing that has become especially influential and fruitful once again in our own time. The individual chapters provide case studies in support of the thesis that late 18th-century reactions to Kant initiated an ‘historical turn’, after which historical and systematic considerations became joined in a way that fundamentally distinguishes philosophy from science and art, without falling back into mere historicism. In this way it is shown that philosophy's ‘historical turn’ is both similar to and unlike the turn to history undertaken by most other disciplines in this era. Part One argues that close attention to the historical context of Kant's philosophy is crucial to avoiding frequent misunderstandings that have arisen in comparing Kant with other major modern philosophers. Part Two contends that it was mainly the writing of Kant's first major interpreter that led to special philosophical emphasis on history in other major post-Kantian thinkers. Part Three argues that Hegel's system and its influence on post-Hegelians were determined largely by variations on Reinhold's historical turn. Part Four engages with major contemporary philosophers who have combined a study of particular themes in Kant and German Idealism with an appreciation for phenomena closely associated with the general notion of an historical turn in philosophy.

This chapter combines an analysis of the structure of Kant's critique of earlier metaphysics with a historical account of how this critique could have had as its fate the remarkable rise of a new ...
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This chapter combines an analysis of the structure of Kant's critique of earlier metaphysics with a historical account of how this critique could have had as its fate the remarkable rise of a new kind of metaphysics in the era of German Idealism. It begins with the general observation that the Dialectic of the Critique of Pure Reason does not attempt, let alone accomplish, the kind of complete destruction of metaphysics that many of its readers have supposed. Many traditional transcendent metaphysical ideas are allowed to be not only coherent but also assertable, once the demands of regulative and practical reason are allowed to supplement the thoughts of constitutive theoretical reason. Moreover, the Critique's stress on notions such as idealism, things in themselves, and the ‘unconditioned’ created (as William Hamilton noted) a ‘spectre’ that ‘haunted’ and stimulated German Idealism's new metaphysics of the ‘absolute’. Although Kant offers a radical critique of all earlier systems of a spiritualist or materialist kind, he also believes that something metaphysical should be affirmed beyond the spatiotemporal features of our experience. It is argued that for both Kant and German Idealism, this metaphysics is at least not any kind of subjectivism, and it need not present a special threat to most of our common realist beliefs.Less

The Critique of Metaphysics: The Structure and Fate of Kant's Dialectic

Karl Ameriks

Published in print: 2006-09-14

This chapter combines an analysis of the structure of Kant's critique of earlier metaphysics with a historical account of how this critique could have had as its fate the remarkable rise of a new kind of metaphysics in the era of German Idealism. It begins with the general observation that the Dialectic of the Critique of Pure Reason does not attempt, let alone accomplish, the kind of complete destruction of metaphysics that many of its readers have supposed. Many traditional transcendent metaphysical ideas are allowed to be not only coherent but also assertable, once the demands of regulative and practical reason are allowed to supplement the thoughts of constitutive theoretical reason. Moreover, the Critique's stress on notions such as idealism, things in themselves, and the ‘unconditioned’ created (as William Hamilton noted) a ‘spectre’ that ‘haunted’ and stimulated German Idealism's new metaphysics of the ‘absolute’. Although Kant offers a radical critique of all earlier systems of a spiritualist or materialist kind, he also believes that something metaphysical should be affirmed beyond the spatiotemporal features of our experience. It is argued that for both Kant and German Idealism, this metaphysics is at least not any kind of subjectivism, and it need not present a special threat to most of our common realist beliefs.

This chapter builds on the contrast between Hume and Kant by showing how the Critical philosophy can be understood as an ally of Reid's critique of empiricism and the whole tradition of the ‘way of ...
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This chapter builds on the contrast between Hume and Kant by showing how the Critical philosophy can be understood as an ally of Reid's critique of empiricism and the whole tradition of the ‘way of ideas’. The general ‘anti-Cartesian’ and realist approach of Reid's common-sense philosophy has gained many distinguished adherents, but most analytic philosophers have continued to assume that this approach is the very opposite of Kant's. By building on extensive research by Manfred Kuehn on the role of common-sense philosophy in 18th-century Germany, it is argued that there has been a deep misunderstanding concerning passages that have been repeatedly taken to prove that Kant's philosophy completely opposes Reid's. Moreover, it is argued that common sense plays a crucial role in the first stage of Kant's system (in his theoretical and practical philosophy as well as his aesthetics), and that historical research has established that this fact was clearly recognized by a significant circle of early Kantians who worked in Jena right before the full development of German Idealism.Less

A Common‐Sense Kant?

Karl Ameriks

Published in print: 2006-09-14

This chapter builds on the contrast between Hume and Kant by showing how the Critical philosophy can be understood as an ally of Reid's critique of empiricism and the whole tradition of the ‘way of ideas’. The general ‘anti-Cartesian’ and realist approach of Reid's common-sense philosophy has gained many distinguished adherents, but most analytic philosophers have continued to assume that this approach is the very opposite of Kant's. By building on extensive research by Manfred Kuehn on the role of common-sense philosophy in 18th-century Germany, it is argued that there has been a deep misunderstanding concerning passages that have been repeatedly taken to prove that Kant's philosophy completely opposes Reid's. Moreover, it is argued that common sense plays a crucial role in the first stage of Kant's system (in his theoretical and practical philosophy as well as his aesthetics), and that historical research has established that this fact was clearly recognized by a significant circle of early Kantians who worked in Jena right before the full development of German Idealism.

This chapter distinguishes between epistemologically and metaphysically motivated forms of idealism. It then shows how Wilfrid Sellars systematically blocks the epistemological motivations for ...
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This chapter distinguishes between epistemologically and metaphysically motivated forms of idealism. It then shows how Wilfrid Sellars systematically blocks the epistemological motivations for idealism popular in the empiricist tradition. It then argues that the metaphysical motivations for idealism common in the German tradition posed a more significant challenge to Sellars's realism and naturalism, and that it is in response to this challenge that he developed and defended his notion of picturing.Less

Getting Beyond Idealisms

Willem A. deVries

Published in print: 2009-11-26

This chapter distinguishes between epistemologically and metaphysically motivated forms of idealism. It then shows how Wilfrid Sellars systematically blocks the epistemological motivations for idealism popular in the empiricist tradition. It then argues that the metaphysical motivations for idealism common in the German tradition posed a more significant challenge to Sellars's realism and naturalism, and that it is in response to this challenge that he developed and defended his notion of picturing.

This chapter posits that any assessment of the long-standing analytic antipathy to Hegel presupposes an understanding of terms such as “British idealism,” “German idealism,” and “idealism.” Analytic ...
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This chapter posits that any assessment of the long-standing analytic antipathy to Hegel presupposes an understanding of terms such as “British idealism,” “German idealism,” and “idealism.” Analytic thinkers in revolt against idealism, or British idealism, were often never very clear about that against which they were revolting. None of the early analytic thinkers had more than a very general, imprecise conception of British idealism, German idealism, or idealism in general. The types of idealism are very different. German idealists arguably share common goals, such as developing systematic, scientific philosophy through perfecting Kant's Copernican revolution. Other than opposition to standard British empiricism, British idealism apparently lacks a common philosophical project.Less

Idealism, British Idealism, and Analytic Philosophy

Tom Rockmore

Published in print: 2005-03-11

This chapter posits that any assessment of the long-standing analytic antipathy to Hegel presupposes an understanding of terms such as “British idealism,” “German idealism,” and “idealism.” Analytic thinkers in revolt against idealism, or British idealism, were often never very clear about that against which they were revolting. None of the early analytic thinkers had more than a very general, imprecise conception of British idealism, German idealism, or idealism in general. The types of idealism are very different. German idealists arguably share common goals, such as developing systematic, scientific philosophy through perfecting Kant's Copernican revolution. Other than opposition to standard British empiricism, British idealism apparently lacks a common philosophical project.

In “Sensual Idealism: The Spirit of Epicureanism and the Politics of Finitude in Kant and Hölderlin,” Anthony Adler studies Kant’s idiosyncratic and surprisingly positive reception of Epicureanism. ...
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In “Sensual Idealism: The Spirit of Epicureanism and the Politics of Finitude in Kant and Hölderlin,” Anthony Adler studies Kant’s idiosyncratic and surprisingly positive reception of Epicureanism. Adler argues that despite his rejection of Epicureanism as dogmatic doctrine, Kant nonetheless endorses, and remains engaged with, the spirit of Epicureanism throughout his critical philosophy. Particularly important to this discussion is Kant’s reading of the Epicurean technical term, prolēpsis, which the German views as an anticipation of his own a priori concepts. As a coda to his study of Kant, Adler examines Hölderlin’s largely unrecognized engagement with Kant’s reformulation of Epicureanism in his Death of Empedocles.Less

Sensual Idealism: The Spirit of Epicurus and the Politics of Finitude in Kant and Hölderlin

Anthony Curtis Adler

Published in print: 2012-05-08

In “Sensual Idealism: The Spirit of Epicureanism and the Politics of Finitude in Kant and Hölderlin,” Anthony Adler studies Kant’s idiosyncratic and surprisingly positive reception of Epicureanism. Adler argues that despite his rejection of Epicureanism as dogmatic doctrine, Kant nonetheless endorses, and remains engaged with, the spirit of Epicureanism throughout his critical philosophy. Particularly important to this discussion is Kant’s reading of the Epicurean technical term, prolēpsis, which the German views as an anticipation of his own a priori concepts. As a coda to his study of Kant, Adler examines Hölderlin’s largely unrecognized engagement with Kant’s reformulation of Epicureanism in his Death of Empedocles.

This chapter begins to show how British Marxism arose out of traditions that stood aside from the evangelicalism and liberal economics that had dominated much of the nineteenth century. It focuses on ...
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This chapter begins to show how British Marxism arose out of traditions that stood aside from the evangelicalism and liberal economics that had dominated much of the nineteenth century. It focuses on E. B. Bax, probably the leading socialist philosopher in Britain during the late nineteenth century. It begins by looking at the traditions and movements that fed into British Marxism, including republican positivists and exiled anarchists as well as Tory and popular radicals. Bax came to Marxism through his contact with these groups and his interest in German idealism. He argued that Marxism was an economic and historical science that lacked a philosophical and ethical basis. He wanted to base the Marxian dialectic on German idealism, arguing that the dialectic was a fact about reality, and he wanted to base an ethical defense of Marxism on the republican positivism of the French Revolution.Less

Ernest Belfort Bax

Mark Bevir

Published in print: 2011-09-11

This chapter begins to show how British Marxism arose out of traditions that stood aside from the evangelicalism and liberal economics that had dominated much of the nineteenth century. It focuses on E. B. Bax, probably the leading socialist philosopher in Britain during the late nineteenth century. It begins by looking at the traditions and movements that fed into British Marxism, including republican positivists and exiled anarchists as well as Tory and popular radicals. Bax came to Marxism through his contact with these groups and his interest in German idealism. He argued that Marxism was an economic and historical science that lacked a philosophical and ethical basis. He wanted to base the Marxian dialectic on German idealism, arguing that the dialectic was a fact about reality, and he wanted to base an ethical defense of Marxism on the republican positivism of the French Revolution.

German Idealism as Constructivism is Tom Rockmore’s statement on the debate about German idealism between proponents of representationalism and those of constructivism that still plagues our grasp of ...
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German Idealism as Constructivism is Tom Rockmore’s statement on the debate about German idealism between proponents of representationalism and those of constructivism that still plagues our grasp of the history of German idealism and the whole epistemological project today. Rockmore argues that German idealism—which includes iconic thinkers such as Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel—can best be understood as a constructivist project, one that asserts that we cannot know the mind-independent world as it is but only our own mental construction of it. Since ancient Greece philosophers have tried to know the world in itself, an effort that Kant believed had failed. His alternative strategy—which came to be known as the Copernican revolution—was that the world as we experience and know it depends on the mind. Rockmore shows that this project was central to Kant’s critical philosophy and the later German idealists who would follow him. He traces the different ways philosophers like Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel formulated their own versions of constructivism. Rockmore offers an analysis of a crucial part of the legacy of German idealism.Less

German Idealism as Constructivism

Tom Rockmore

Published in print: 2016-05-03

German Idealism as Constructivism is Tom Rockmore’s statement on the debate about German idealism between proponents of representationalism and those of constructivism that still plagues our grasp of the history of German idealism and the whole epistemological project today. Rockmore argues that German idealism—which includes iconic thinkers such as Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel—can best be understood as a constructivist project, one that asserts that we cannot know the mind-independent world as it is but only our own mental construction of it. Since ancient Greece philosophers have tried to know the world in itself, an effort that Kant believed had failed. His alternative strategy—which came to be known as the Copernican revolution—was that the world as we experience and know it depends on the mind. Rockmore shows that this project was central to Kant’s critical philosophy and the later German idealists who would follow him. He traces the different ways philosophers like Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel formulated their own versions of constructivism. Rockmore offers an analysis of a crucial part of the legacy of German idealism.

The introduction sets the stage for the book by examining the allegory of receptivity unfolded in a poem by Rilke from which Gadamer borrows the epigraph to his Truth and Method. The tendentiously ...
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The introduction sets the stage for the book by examining the allegory of receptivity unfolded in a poem by Rilke from which Gadamer borrows the epigraph to his Truth and Method. The tendentiously incomplete character of Gadamer’s citation dramatizes the tension between receptive openness toward an authoritative precursor text and the imperative of self-determining thought. After tracing back the central motif of the poem to the idealist context, the Introduction delineates the conceptual space within which the subsequent chapters will move. Three paradigmatic positions are outlined: the Kantian account of knowledge as involving sensible receptivity and spontaneous thought, Hegel’s critique of the assumption of finitude underpinning the Kantian model, and Gadamer’s reversal of Hegel.Less

Introduction : Idealism and Finitude

Márton Dornbach

Published in print: 2016-01-01

The introduction sets the stage for the book by examining the allegory of receptivity unfolded in a poem by Rilke from which Gadamer borrows the epigraph to his Truth and Method. The tendentiously incomplete character of Gadamer’s citation dramatizes the tension between receptive openness toward an authoritative precursor text and the imperative of self-determining thought. After tracing back the central motif of the poem to the idealist context, the Introduction delineates the conceptual space within which the subsequent chapters will move. Three paradigmatic positions are outlined: the Kantian account of knowledge as involving sensible receptivity and spontaneous thought, Hegel’s critique of the assumption of finitude underpinning the Kantian model, and Gadamer’s reversal of Hegel.

German idealists such as Friedrich Schelling and theologians such as Wilhelm Benecke and Julius Müller build on Kant's foundation of preexistence as a basis for freedom. Joseph Smith makes Mormonism ...
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German idealists such as Friedrich Schelling and theologians such as Wilhelm Benecke and Julius Müller build on Kant's foundation of preexistence as a basis for freedom. Joseph Smith makes Mormonism (Latter-day Saints) the only Christian denomination to embrace preexistence. Edward Beecher gives the doctrine its fullest exposition ever.Less

Philosophy and Theology, 1800–1900

Terryl L. Givens

Published in print: 2009-09-10

German idealists such as Friedrich Schelling and theologians such as Wilhelm Benecke and Julius Müller build on Kant's foundation of preexistence as a basis for freedom. Joseph Smith makes Mormonism (Latter-day Saints) the only Christian denomination to embrace preexistence. Edward Beecher gives the doctrine its fullest exposition ever.

This chapter explores how the nineteenth-century developed a particular idea and ideal of the chorus of tragedy. It looks at German idealist constructions of the chorus and traces them through into ...
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This chapter explores how the nineteenth-century developed a particular idea and ideal of the chorus of tragedy. It looks at German idealist constructions of the chorus and traces them through into the performance tradition. It explores the relation between tragedy and performance.Less

Generalizing About the Chorus

Simon Goldhill

Published in print: 2012-03-05

This chapter explores how the nineteenth-century developed a particular idea and ideal of the chorus of tragedy. It looks at German idealist constructions of the chorus and traces them through into the performance tradition. It explores the relation between tragedy and performance.

Beginning with Kant, German idealist philosophers undertake a radical rethinking of the nature of human mindedness whose ramifications have yet to be fully assessed. At the heart of this project is ...
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Beginning with Kant, German idealist philosophers undertake a radical rethinking of the nature of human mindedness whose ramifications have yet to be fully assessed. At the heart of this project is the claim that the mind is fundamentally active and self-determining. In the wake of this innovation, it becomes difficult to account for the central fact that humans’ orientation in the world depends on culturally transmitted models of acting, feeling, and thinking. If the defining feature of the mind is self-induced activity, how much room, if any, remains for receptive openness toward the world of artefacts and meanings made by our fellow humans? This book shows that the need to avoid an antinomy between the claims of spontaneous activity and the indispensability of cultural transmission was a key driving force of idealist thought. Spanning the period from Kant to Hegel, the book examines the ways in which the German idealists envisioned and enacted cultural transmission. In chapters focusing on aesthetic experience, the historical character of philosophy, textual communication, and literary criticism, the book presents a series of interrelated attempts at understanding the conjunction of receptivity and spontaneous activity in the transmission of human-made models of mindedness. The book combines a reconstructive approach to the idealist legacy with attention to subsequent intellectual developments to argue that we cannot hope to keep our bearings in the contemporary intellectual landscape without the conceptual framework established by the idealists.Less

Receptive Spirit : German Idealism and the Dynamics of Cultural Transmission

Márton Dornbach

Published in print: 2016-01-01

Beginning with Kant, German idealist philosophers undertake a radical rethinking of the nature of human mindedness whose ramifications have yet to be fully assessed. At the heart of this project is the claim that the mind is fundamentally active and self-determining. In the wake of this innovation, it becomes difficult to account for the central fact that humans’ orientation in the world depends on culturally transmitted models of acting, feeling, and thinking. If the defining feature of the mind is self-induced activity, how much room, if any, remains for receptive openness toward the world of artefacts and meanings made by our fellow humans? This book shows that the need to avoid an antinomy between the claims of spontaneous activity and the indispensability of cultural transmission was a key driving force of idealist thought. Spanning the period from Kant to Hegel, the book examines the ways in which the German idealists envisioned and enacted cultural transmission. In chapters focusing on aesthetic experience, the historical character of philosophy, textual communication, and literary criticism, the book presents a series of interrelated attempts at understanding the conjunction of receptivity and spontaneous activity in the transmission of human-made models of mindedness. The book combines a reconstructive approach to the idealist legacy with attention to subsequent intellectual developments to argue that we cannot hope to keep our bearings in the contemporary intellectual landscape without the conceptual framework established by the idealists.

Chapter thirty-six is primarily concerned with the rise of Transcendentalism in America and Princeton’s response to this new variation of American Unitarianism. Hodge, along with Albert Dod and James ...
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Chapter thirty-six is primarily concerned with the rise of Transcendentalism in America and Princeton’s response to this new variation of American Unitarianism. Hodge, along with Albert Dod and James W. Alexander, wrote early, stinging critiques of Transcendentalism for the Repertory. The articles were so well argued that the Unitarian Andrews Norton had them republished in his own battle against the rising influence of Transcendentalism in New England.Less

“The Nonsensical Dialect of Transcendentalism”

Paul C. Gutjahr

Published in print: 2011-03-02

Chapter thirty-six is primarily concerned with the rise of Transcendentalism in America and Princeton’s response to this new variation of American Unitarianism. Hodge, along with Albert Dod and James W. Alexander, wrote early, stinging critiques of Transcendentalism for the Repertory. The articles were so well argued that the Unitarian Andrews Norton had them republished in his own battle against the rising influence of Transcendentalism in New England.

Chapter thirty-eight treats the threat of German Idealist thought as it came to influence the thinking of those who considered themselves part of the Reformed tradition. Particularly important in ...
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Chapter thirty-eight treats the threat of German Idealist thought as it came to influence the thinking of those who considered themselves part of the Reformed tradition. Particularly important in this regard stand: John Williamson Nevin, Charles Finney, and Horace Bushnell. Hodge considered each of these men as dangerous threats to traditional Reformed orthodoxy as they spread their own versions of the redemptive power of human moral intuition.Less

The Infection of German Idealism

Paul C. Gutjahr

Published in print: 2011-03-02

Chapter thirty-eight treats the threat of German Idealist thought as it came to influence the thinking of those who considered themselves part of the Reformed tradition. Particularly important in this regard stand: John Williamson Nevin, Charles Finney, and Horace Bushnell. Hodge considered each of these men as dangerous threats to traditional Reformed orthodoxy as they spread their own versions of the redemptive power of human moral intuition.

This chapter will attempt to resolve a dispute between Frederick Beiser and Manfred Frank about the relationship between romanticism and idealism. In German Idealism Beiser placed the romantics ...
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This chapter will attempt to resolve a dispute between Frederick Beiser and Manfred Frank about the relationship between romanticism and idealism. In German Idealism Beiser placed the romantics within the German idealist movement, seeing them as part of the same tradition as Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. This aroused the objection of Frank, which appears in his Auswege aus dem deutschen Idealismus, and others who follow him (viz., Elizabeth Millan-Zaibert in her Friedrich Schlegel and the Emergence of Romantic Philosophy). They claim that romanticism and idealism are opposed movements because idealist is foundationalist whereas romanticism is antifoundationalist. This chapter argues that this debate partly rests on a confusion between methodological and metaphysical issues: that the romantics had an idealist metaphysics even though they did not share the methodology of Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. There are other issues causing confusion, viz., who precisely do we want to regard as a romantic, which the chapter also attempts to sort out.Less

Romanticism and Idealism

Frederick Beiser

Published in print: 2014-04-01

This chapter will attempt to resolve a dispute between Frederick Beiser and Manfred Frank about the relationship between romanticism and idealism. In German Idealism Beiser placed the romantics within the German idealist movement, seeing them as part of the same tradition as Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. This aroused the objection of Frank, which appears in his Auswege aus dem deutschen Idealismus, and others who follow him (viz., Elizabeth Millan-Zaibert in her Friedrich Schlegel and the Emergence of Romantic Philosophy). They claim that romanticism and idealism are opposed movements because idealist is foundationalist whereas romanticism is antifoundationalist. This chapter argues that this debate partly rests on a confusion between methodological and metaphysical issues: that the romantics had an idealist metaphysics even though they did not share the methodology of Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. There are other issues causing confusion, viz., who precisely do we want to regard as a romantic, which the chapter also attempts to sort out.

In ‘The Greek Chorus: Our German Eyes’, Simon Goldhill investigates the influence of German Idealist thought on modern conceptions of the chorus and argues that this influence is pervasive and ...
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In ‘The Greek Chorus: Our German Eyes’, Simon Goldhill investigates the influence of German Idealist thought on modern conceptions of the chorus and argues that this influence is pervasive and determinative of modern debates. The chapter has four main sections. The first outlines the debate about the chorus in German Idealism, with a particular focus on Schlegel’s much misunderstood apophthegm that the chorus is an ‘idealized spectator’ The second section looks at the role of music for the chorus and how this too is located within German thinking of the time, especially Schopenhauer. The third section investigates how this tradition of philosophical thinking entered and profoundly influenced the performance of Greek tragedy (via opera). Fourth and finally, the chapter turns to education and scholarship, and in particular to how a watered-down Schlegel appears in texts across the full range of British education.Less

The Greek Chorus: Our German Eye s

Simon Goldhill

Published in print: 2013-09-19

In ‘The Greek Chorus: Our German Eyes’, Simon Goldhill investigates the influence of German Idealist thought on modern conceptions of the chorus and argues that this influence is pervasive and determinative of modern debates. The chapter has four main sections. The first outlines the debate about the chorus in German Idealism, with a particular focus on Schlegel’s much misunderstood apophthegm that the chorus is an ‘idealized spectator’ The second section looks at the role of music for the chorus and how this too is located within German thinking of the time, especially Schopenhauer. The third section investigates how this tradition of philosophical thinking entered and profoundly influenced the performance of Greek tragedy (via opera). Fourth and finally, the chapter turns to education and scholarship, and in particular to how a watered-down Schlegel appears in texts across the full range of British education.

Poststructuralists hold Hegel responsible for giving rise to many of modern philosophy’s problematic concepts-the authority of reason, self-consciousness, the knowing subject. Yet, according to this ...
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Poststructuralists hold Hegel responsible for giving rise to many of modern philosophy’s problematic concepts-the authority of reason, self-consciousness, the knowing subject. Yet, according to this book, this animosity is rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of Hegel’s thought, and resolving this tension can not only heal the rift between poststructuralism and German idealism but also point these traditions in exciting new directions. Revisiting the philosopher’s key texts, the book calls attention to Hegel’s reformulation of liberal and Cartesian conceptions of subjectivity, identifying a critical though unrecognized continuity between poststructuralism and German idealism. Poststructuralism forged its identity in opposition to idealist subjectivity; however, the book argues this model is not found in Hegel’s texts but in an uncritical acceptance of Heidegger’s characterization of Hegel and Fichte as “metaphysicians of subjectivity.” Recasting Hegel as both post-Kantian and postmetaphysical, it sheds new light on this complex philosopher while revealing the surprising affinities between two supposedly antithetical modes of thought.Less

Self-Consciousness and the Critique of the Subject : Hegel, Heidegger, and the Poststructuralists

Simon Lumsden

Published in print: 2014-08-26

Poststructuralists hold Hegel responsible for giving rise to many of modern philosophy’s problematic concepts-the authority of reason, self-consciousness, the knowing subject. Yet, according to this book, this animosity is rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of Hegel’s thought, and resolving this tension can not only heal the rift between poststructuralism and German idealism but also point these traditions in exciting new directions. Revisiting the philosopher’s key texts, the book calls attention to Hegel’s reformulation of liberal and Cartesian conceptions of subjectivity, identifying a critical though unrecognized continuity between poststructuralism and German idealism. Poststructuralism forged its identity in opposition to idealist subjectivity; however, the book argues this model is not found in Hegel’s texts but in an uncritical acceptance of Heidegger’s characterization of Hegel and Fichte as “metaphysicians of subjectivity.” Recasting Hegel as both post-Kantian and postmetaphysical, it sheds new light on this complex philosopher while revealing the surprising affinities between two supposedly antithetical modes of thought.

For most of the nineteenth century, the study of theology dominated philosophy in American colleges. But collegiate philosophy did begin the process of professionalization, and had an enormous social ...
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For most of the nineteenth century, the study of theology dominated philosophy in American colleges. But collegiate philosophy did begin the process of professionalization, and had an enormous social impact in its elaboration of the moral sciences, a mixture of social science taught from an explicitly normative point of view, grounded in Christianity. The college philosophers, including Francis Bowen at Harvard, Noah Porter at Yale, and James McCosh at Princeton, also purveyed a version of Scottish Realism, which gave ground to German idealism as the century wore on.Less

Collegiate Philosophy, 1800–1868

Bruce Kuklick

Published in print: 2003-01-09

For most of the nineteenth century, the study of theology dominated philosophy in American colleges. But collegiate philosophy did begin the process of professionalization, and had an enormous social impact in its elaboration of the moral sciences, a mixture of social science taught from an explicitly normative point of view, grounded in Christianity. The college philosophers, including Francis Bowen at Harvard, Noah Porter at Yale, and James McCosh at Princeton, also purveyed a version of Scottish Realism, which gave ground to German idealism as the century wore on.

While the notion of the absolute is most often identified with Hegel’s philosophical system, The Romantic Absolute explicates the significance of the absolute in the epistemology and metaphysics of ...
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While the notion of the absolute is most often identified with Hegel’s philosophical system, The Romantic Absolute explicates the significance of the absolute in the epistemology and metaphysics of romantic thinkers between Kant and Hegel, and investigates the ways in which three major figures of philosophical romanticism--Friedrich von Hardenberg (Novalis), Friedrich Schlegel and Friedrich Schelling--sought to articulate a cogent conception of the absolute. The Romantic Absolute argues that for the romantics, the absolute was neither a solely epistemological nor a solely metaphysical idea, but encompassed both epistemology and metaphysics, and can thus only be understood from both perspectives. The romantics insisted that the absolute cannot be reduced to either being or knowing, because as absolute, it must underlie both. In turn, precisely because the absolute is the ground of being and knowing, the romantics concluded that it must be inherently relational. This relational conception of the absolute, i.e., of the absolute as the mediation of being and knowing, or as the realization of the infinite in the finite, is the most complex and innovative aspect of early romantic philosophy. In significant ways, The Romantic Absolute departs from the widespread view of romanticism as a skeptical movement that anticipates post-structuralism. By elaborating the distinctive character of the romantic conception of the absolute, The Romantic Absolute sheds new light on philosophical romanticism, and argues that in romantic thought, we find one of the most rigorous attempts to grasp the relation between mind and nature in a coherent, but non-reductive way.Less

The Romantic Absolute : Being and Knowing in Early German Romantic Philosophy, 1795-1804

Dalia Nassar

Published in print: 2013-12-23

While the notion of the absolute is most often identified with Hegel’s philosophical system, The Romantic Absolute explicates the significance of the absolute in the epistemology and metaphysics of romantic thinkers between Kant and Hegel, and investigates the ways in which three major figures of philosophical romanticism--Friedrich von Hardenberg (Novalis), Friedrich Schlegel and Friedrich Schelling--sought to articulate a cogent conception of the absolute. The Romantic Absolute argues that for the romantics, the absolute was neither a solely epistemological nor a solely metaphysical idea, but encompassed both epistemology and metaphysics, and can thus only be understood from both perspectives. The romantics insisted that the absolute cannot be reduced to either being or knowing, because as absolute, it must underlie both. In turn, precisely because the absolute is the ground of being and knowing, the romantics concluded that it must be inherently relational. This relational conception of the absolute, i.e., of the absolute as the mediation of being and knowing, or as the realization of the infinite in the finite, is the most complex and innovative aspect of early romantic philosophy. In significant ways, The Romantic Absolute departs from the widespread view of romanticism as a skeptical movement that anticipates post-structuralism. By elaborating the distinctive character of the romantic conception of the absolute, The Romantic Absolute sheds new light on philosophical romanticism, and argues that in romantic thought, we find one of the most rigorous attempts to grasp the relation between mind and nature in a coherent, but non-reductive way.

This chapter examines German idealism, which is the only philosophical school of thought has retained the epithet “German.” The reason being is because it was the most intellectually ambitious ...
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This chapter examines German idealism, which is the only philosophical school of thought has retained the epithet “German.” The reason being is because it was the most intellectually ambitious philosophy that Germany has produced; and because it succeeded in integrating almost all the innovative achievements of earlier German philosophy in the shape of a system, the most complex form of philosophical thought. The religious motivation of the three main figures within this movement contributed to the emergence of a kind of philosophical religiousness that was new in world history. These three crucial figures are Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814), Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1775–1854), and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831).Less

The Longing for a System: German Idealism

Vittorio Hösle

Published in print: 2016-12-06

This chapter examines German idealism, which is the only philosophical school of thought has retained the epithet “German.” The reason being is because it was the most intellectually ambitious philosophy that Germany has produced; and because it succeeded in integrating almost all the innovative achievements of earlier German philosophy in the shape of a system, the most complex form of philosophical thought. The religious motivation of the three main figures within this movement contributed to the emergence of a kind of philosophical religiousness that was new in world history. These three crucial figures are Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814), Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1775–1854), and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831).